Sarah
by kaitins
Summary: A mission brings the crew of Andromeda close to Earth and harper recieves a trasnmission from an old friend there with news that will change his life forever. CH.5 UP!
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I DON NOT OWN ANDROMEDA. Do I look like Gene Roddenberry?

Author's Note: This story kind of assumes that the crew never travels to Earth like I know they actually do in previous season (I cant remember which one.)

Harper stared at the screen. There she was…his home. Earth. She didn't look much different, just a little more tired. What could you expect though. Being a slave planet must be hard.

One of the crew's missions had brought them into the Milky Way Galaxy. They were trying to get a small planet on the edge of an asteroid belt to sign the Commonwealth charter. He wished he could got there one more time, but he knew they couldn't afford a trip. Still, it was nice to be so close.

"Hey ole girl…How's life been treatin' ya?"

"Harper?...are you talking to yourself?"

Trance had silently slipped into the room, and Harper reluctantly turned around, breaking eye contact with is precious home.

"Just saying hi to the ole girl, is all. It's funny Trance. It's a horrendous place to live…just awful. If I went back there, I could be killed at any moment, but….but, I still miss it…ya know?

"I do know what it's like to miss your home."

Harper saw a sadness fill Trance's eyes. It was a pain he had seen before, but seldom. Only when she talked about her home. He wondered what her home planet was like. For someone as special as her, it must be an amazing place to live. He started to extend his hand in a gesture of comfort when the ships AI abruptly appeared in front of him.

"Harper…we have received a transmission. It's addressed to you."

With that the AI blinked away, leaving Harper to wonder what the message contained.

He noticed Trance's eagerly staring at him. She was hoping he could answer the questions of her curiosity. He just gave her a shrug and the two made their way to command.

"Okay…so who's so anxious to talk to me?"

Harper swaggered into command, Trance at his heels. Beka rolled her eyes, but then got serious.

"Harper…it's from Earth."

"Earth?" his voice was filled with questions. "Andromeda, play transmission."

"Aye Harper."

His eyes grew wide as the screen filled with a very familiar face.

"Michael." Beka heard her friend whisper. His eyes suddenly had tears in them. She was tempted to stay staring at his face. It was more open then see had seen in a long time. Only curiosity at the contents of the transmissions itself pulled her away from his face.

'_Seamus? Is it you? I hope this gets to you. Man I have been trying to find you for the longest time. This is my one chance, this better work. See…you remember that transmission device you built when we were like 18? We used to send useless messages out into space…remember? No one was ever listening though. But now someone is…you are. We learned of your position on the Andromeda awhile ago, so when I heard some Dragons talking about how the great warship Andromeda was orbiting nearby, I knew I had to take my chance. Look, I'm not asking you to come and rescue me or anything like that. 'Cause I know you'd come and I can't ask that of you. This isn't about me this is about you. Seamus…'_

Suddenly the haughty, free spirited bravado the voice had been carrying up till then broke and his eyes grew serious. They had a look of fear, and exhilaration…and hope, in them.

_'Seamus…Sarah's alive.'_


	2. Old Wounds

Harper's breath caught.

He felt hope enter his heart. That kind of hope scared him though, and as soon as it came, he pushed it away. He started to laugh at the lunacy of it, but instead tears came. All the painful memories he'd suppressed for so long came flooding back to him.

(flashback)

'Michael?...Michael, I'm back. Man this stupid uber, you'll never guess what I did to him. Really, he thought he had me, but I outsmarted him.'

One look at his friend's face and Harper's laughter stopped. Michael had tears in his eyes, and Harper felt dread grasp his heart.

'Seamus…Sarah,' he closed his eyes, reluctant to tell his friend the news he knew would kill him, 'She's gone Seamus. Sarah's gone.'

Michael handed his friend the bloody blanket. Harper fingered it gently. The Dragons hated him for the trouble he caused so they retaliated in a way that they knew would hurt him most. Because of him… she had died. Harper collapsed in his friend's arms, to overcome with grief to be embarrassed by his sobs.

(end flashback)

For the first time in a long time, Harper had allowed to himself to think of this memory, and despite himself, tears began streaming down his face.

"Harper?"

Beka's voice was filled with concern. He quickly pulled himself together, the best he could. He gave her a half smile.

"Harper…Who's Sarah?" Beka gently asked.

Harper sighed and closed his eyes, picturing Sarah the last time he had seen her. She was just a baby then.

"Sarah's my sister."

Beka sat in her quarters in silent shock. Harper had just related to her and the rest of the crew about his sister. He thought was dead. Killed by the Dragons as payback for his constant meddling and sabotage She could tell he carried deep guilt for this for this.

And now…his old friend from earth was sending him a message that she was alive. What could it mean? She hoped that whatever came of the situation, Harper would not end up hurt once again. They had sent a message back to the origin of the transmission, now all they could do was wait.

Harper paced his room, every thought and feeling racing through him: hope, fear, curiosity. What did she look like now? Did she look like her mother? Was she smart? Was she even really alive?

"Harper?"

His thoughts were interrupted by a tap on the door. Trance peered in.

"Harper…we're receiving live feed from the transmission origin."

Trance saw fear enter he friend's face. For just a moment he looked so young. She could tell he was trying so hard not to get his hopes up, but inside was aching for the message to be true.

As Harper reached the doors of command he grew nervous. His sister could still be alive. He took a deep breath and hit the button to open the door. Suddenly, there on the other end of the transmission, Michael was smiling at him.

"Seamus? Man it's really you! You look so old."

Harper smiled. It was good to see his old friend.

"Michael, how are you? How's life been treating you?"

"About as well as you might expect on a slave planet."

Harper chuckled. Michael always had this blind kind of optimism. Back on Earth it used to drive him crazy, but some days it was the only thing that kept him from despair.

"Michael," seriousness suddenly filled Harper's voice. "Is it true? Is she alive?"

"Yeah, she is Seamus. She's alive and all grown up. I've seen her."

"How?"

"We assumed with all that blood, they'd killed her, but they didn't."


	3. A Personal Mission

Thanks so much for everyone that has reviewed so far. I appreciate your feedback and positive comments. I've been posting really quickly coz I'm on break, so in the next couple of days expect more chapters, but after that it will probably slow down some.

Ohhh and Candace any questions about Andromeda, character questions, what they are exactly, how things work…just ask.

Harper sat down in the middle of command, right on the floor. Dylan, Rhade, Beka, Trance all just stared at him. He could feel their stares but at the moment he didn't care. His sister was alive. Michael had seen her. She was alive. His thoughts ran wild. 'I guess she isn't two anymore. That was 15 years ago, she must be 17 now. Man she was all grown up. If I saw her, I probably wouldn't even recognize her.'

"What does she look like?" he blurted out without thinking.

Michael smiled.

"She's beautiful, Seamus. She looks just like your mother, same deep brown eyes and soft brown hair. The first time I saw her I stopped dead in my tracks. I thought it was you mom for a second. Then I convinced myself I was losing it. But then I kept looking and she laughed, and then I knew she was real. She laughs like you Seamus."

Harper stared at his friend with tears in his eyes.

"I don't understand Michael. Why isn't she dead? How isn't she dead?"

"I wasn't in our usual neighborhood the first night I saw her. I was in another ghetto collecting some spare parts for a project of mine. I knew it was her though so I started asking around there. An older woman who's lived there for a long time said that she was brought there by the Dragons when she was just about ten, but she had heard that before she had been used in some of the Dragons experiments, and kept in their labs."

Harper cringed at the thought of his young sister locked up in one of the Dragons labs. He'd heard horrible stories of things they had done to people; he'd even been subjected to a few experiments himself. But she was so young, how could they hurt her like that? Suddenly Harper forgot about his friend and locked his view on Dylan instead.

"Boss?"

"Mr. Harper?"

"Come on Dylan, you know what I'm going to ask."

"Harper…she's your sister…you don't have to ask."

Harper sighed. He had to save her; he was going to save her. Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by Rhade.

"Wait!...look, Harper, I understand she's your sister, and I know you want to save her. I mean if anyone from my family was stuck somewhere like that, I'd be right there. But we can't just rush in there. The Dragons don't take kindly to people taking what they think is theirs."

"She's not theirs." Harper said bitterly.

Harper and Rhade stood staring at each other. Rhade wasn't trying to offend Harper, but he liked to think things over. He wasn't the kind of guy who just jumped into things. Michael could feel the tension, all the way from Earth so he threw out an idea, trying to break some of that tension.

"Every month a supply ship comes in to deliver the food rations, the weapons, stuff like that. Harper, you can take a ship, anything you got up there, and rig it so the Dragons sensors can't detect it. You guys can just sneak in when the supply ship comes down. Don't say you can't do it, I've seen you do a lot more, and that's when you were working with a lot less materials than you got up on that warship of yours."

Rhade looked skeptical…and made his opinion known.

"Not that I don't doubt Harper's skill as an engineer, but don't you think the Dragons have technology advanced enough to detect a ship coming in, even if it is trying to hide."

"They don't bother looking." Michael bitingly replied, a touch of bitterness in his voice. "They know no one would come to try to save Earth."

Rhade stared at the screen, right into Michael's eyes. Silently he nodded. He hated the Dragons just about as must as Michael. Help Harper, and screw over the Dragons at the same time, why not?

"When's the next supply ship due?" he asked.

Michael smiled and answered, "Two days from now…Saturday."

Everyone in the crew looked up as they heard Dylan say:

"Let's do it."

Now come on you guys that's 3 chapters in about two days please give me some reviews I'd really appreciate it.


	4. Face to Face

Harper sat in the Maru…he could feel the sweat on the back of his neck. He was going back to Earth. He had to admit, he was scared. He hadn't been back there in 15 years. Not since he had escaped with Beka.

Beka had heard about a device that some of the slaves on Earth had been using. It was a smart silent weapon, and she knew something like it could make her a huge profit. When she got to Earth though, she was in for a surprise. She expected the inventor to be some older man. Instead he was just a young kid. He was alone, apparently the rest of his family had been killed, She quickly grew to like him. When her weapon idea feel through she was sad to leave Earth because she knew she would have to say goodbye to him. When she was about to leave though, he was shot, she took him with her, knowing she could get him better help somewhere else…away from Earth.

Now he was willing going back to the place where he had watched his whole family die. Because she was there.

He and Beka were going to fly in at the same time as the supply ship and land in the near by woods. They would meet Michael there. From there, he would help them track Sarah down. Everyone agreed Harper would be the perfect one to go. He would blend right in. Beka fought hard to accompany him on the mission. She knew this would be a hard mission for him, not just physically, but emotionally as well. She wanted to be there for him.

"Ready Harper…here we go. One…two…three…GO"

Harper braced himself as he felt the Andromeda propel itself through the Earth's atmosphere. After far too long a period of time for his liking, the ship landed…and not too smoothly, in the middle of a field.

"You okay Harper?" Beka asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Man, what a rush"

The two pulled themselves up, and with weapons ready made their way out of the Maru.

"Who's that old man…that can't be my friend Seamus. Seamus was actually a good looking young man."

Harper turned around and found himself face to face with his old friend.

"You're not exactly a teen yourself."

Harper embraced his friend. It was like no time had passed. They were still friends, that bond was still there. The two immediately began catching up, sharing old memories and generally teasing one another.

Beka watched as the two goofily hugged each other. She could see the joy in her friend's face. She cleared her voice loudly.

"Ohh…sorry boss. Michael, you remember my boss…Beka Valentine?"

"AHH yes. The one that got you off this planet. Have you been taking good care of Seamus over here?"

"Ohh yeah. We're taking good care of him."

Suddenly Harper became serious.

"So how far are we from where she is?"

Michael smiled at the determination in his voice.

"Just a couple of blocks…come on, I'll bring you there. First though we need to do something about this ship. It does stand out just a bit.."

"I'll cover that."

Harper pulled out a small remote device and hit a button. Michael's eyes went wide in disbelief as he saw the Maru vanish before his eyes. Harper, seeing his astonishment, smiled, showing he was pleased with himself.

Cool." Michael said. "Okay lets go, keep your eyes peeled though, I don't have clearance to be in this neighborhood so if we get stopped I'm screwed, and there will be no explaining you guys."

The three cautiously made their way out from the woods and into the busy streets of the city. Harper breathed in the old familiar air. He looked around. So many things had changed. As long as he could remember, everything around him was slowly falling down and his time away hadn't stopped that. Buildings that he remembered taller than the sky now stood at their knees. The streets were full of dirt and garbage. There was a general tone of chaos and dismay about the entire place. Despite the sadness in the scene though, Harper knew that there was also hope there. Hope inside the people. Tear had once told him that it was foolish for anyone on Earth to have hope. Harper knew he was right, but he didn't care. He understood that hope was believing in something even when you know it's impossible.

The group slowly made their way block by block through the city. They hung low in the shadows, weapons always drawn. Beka began to build an idea of what Harper's childhood must have been like.

"We're almost there you guys. Just a couple more blocks."

Harper's heart began to race. This was it, he was going to see his sister.

They ducked into an alley, maneuvering around puddles and old parts. Michael put his hand up for them to stop and motioned for them to be quiet. He pointed out to an open market where several chained humans were moving around large crates. In the corner a petite girl with brown hair had her data port linked up to a scanning device. She was pressing buttons on a remote device, a look of concentration on her face. Several Dragons loomed at every chance of exit around the entire compound. Looking annoyed one walked over to her.

"Well? Did you figure out what was wrong with it yet?"

"Calm down big guy…things like these take time. Don't worry, in no time I'll have your system up and running."

"Yeah, just hurry up okay?"

He loomed back over to where he had been standing.

Harper froze, staring at her. Michael was right; she did look like his mother. He was so caught up in her that he didn't hear Beka and Michael calling his name.

"Harper?...Harper? You with us man?"

"Ohh, yeah sorry. So what's the plan?"

"Well, once she finishes the job, two of the guards will escort her back to her quarters. She stays in the building over there. I'm thinking ambush…with only two guards it should be easier for us to take them down."

"Sounds good."

One she finished two large guards grabbed Sarah by the arm and started to lead her across the compound.

"Hey….watch the hands bud."

Beka, Michael, and Harper braced themselves as Sarah and the guards approached. Beka waited until they two guards had walked far enough that they were out of view of the rest of the group before she stumbled out in front of them/

"Oh, hey boys…sorry, didn't mean to startle you. Hey…you know… you're kinda cute."

Beka took the guard by surprise when see suddenly kicked him in the groin. As the other pulled his gun to shoot he was shocked to find Harper's gun against his head.

"Drop it uber."

The second guard dropped his weapon, and gasped as Michael punched him in the stomach.

Harper turned to stare at his sister. She had to come with him. He had t get her to listen to him.

"Look, we don't have a lot of time, so you just need to trust us."

"Hey bud, where I come from, they don't just hand our trust like that. Give me one good reason for me to trust you."

"I'm your brother."


	5. A Brother

Okay guys, here's chapter 5! I'm so sorry it took so long! Hope you like it!

Reviews…always appreciated.

Chapter 5: A Brother

Sarah stopped. Her breath caught in her chest. Tons of thoughts and emotions, all of which conflicted with one another, rushed through her head. This man…what was she saying…man…he was barely a man, he was more a boy. This boy… she had dismissed him so quickly earlier, now she stared directly into his eyes. She knew those eyes. Those blue eyes.

_Sarah stared gloomily at the walls of her cell, contemplating how much she hated them. 'Why?' she asked herself, 'Why?' She smiled at her own depression. 'Why am I so upset?' She thought, 'Iit isn't as though I'm new to this. I've spent my whole life inside jails.' She let out a small laugh._

"_Can I ask what exactly is so funny?"_

_Sarah jumped at the voice in the darkness. She hadn't realized someone was in the cell next to her. She peered over at its occupant. He was a young boy, no older than her. He was small and frail looking, but with an indescribable fire in his eyes. _

"_Funny? Nothing…nothing is funny, that's what's so funny."_

"_Okay?" He laughed, confused at her odd answer._

"_I'm Sam McCall by the way." He held his hand out through the bars for her to shake._

"_Nice to meet you, I'm Sarah, Sarah Harper. "_

_She went to shake his hand but stopped when she saw the look of pure wonderment on his face._

"_What?" She asked a little annoyed at his gawking._

"_You're dead."_

"_Excuse me?"_

_Sam ignored her question, lost in shock and amazement. He couldn't believe his eyes. But she was right there in front of him. It had to be true._

"_Sarah Harper! I don't know why I didn't notice before…I mean you're a lot older now, but its you…..man, its really you. You look just like you mom."_

"_You know my mom?!"_

_Sarah didn't know what this guy was getting at but if he had information about her mom she wanted to hear it._

"_Well no…she died when I was really little…just after you were born actually. So I'm told anyway, it's not like I'd remember. I've seen pictures is all, I knew you brother. The thing is though, that well, you're supposed to be dead."_

_Sarah was instantly compelled to ask him what he meant about her being dead, but the idea of a brother grabbed her interest more. A brother would mean she wasn't alone after all. That she had family._

"_I have a brother?" Sarah asked as tears filled her eyes at the very thought._

"_Well yeah…of course. Not just any brother either, but the great Seamus Harper, 'The finest engineer to grace the presence of Earth.' Well, at least that's what he used to say."_

_For months Sarah and Sam shared a cell. He told her all about her brother, his great escapades messing with the Dragons. How he had hope of bringing them down one day. He also told her about how everyone had thought she was dead, killed by the Dragons. He told her about how Seamus had left Earth with some women after he had been shot. _

_Best of all, beside all Sam told her, all the stories and information…he had picture. They were on a flexi he had managed to hide from the guards when they brought him in. She was able to see her brother, to see her mom, even her dad._

_She could spend hours staring into those blue eyes. _

"Seamus. It's you, it's really you. I used to dream….whenever I'd let myself hope…that one day you would come and rescue me from here."

Harper's eyes filled with tears as he heard his name come from her lips. Despite himself, he grabbed her and held her in a tight hug. She was taken by surprise, and was slightly uncomfortable at hugging this stranger. But he smelt like burnt circuits and Sparky cola. She closed her eyes and gave in to the embrace. This was her brother.

"I hate to stop this reunion, but we need to get a move on it before the friends of these guys come looking for them." Beka nudged one of the unconscious guards with her foot.

Harper was broke free from his trance by the sound of Beka's voice.

"Yeah, sure thing boss lets go."

With a smile to his sister the group, now with their new member, made their way back through the alley. They split up, Each walked a few feet behind the other, knowing a large group would look suspicious. Michael lead the way, then Sarah, followed by Harper, then Rhade, with Beka taking up the rear. They made great time. Everyone looked forward, their eyes on the destination. They knew that at any moment their joy could be stopped by a random patrol group. No one looked back at each other, but kept their eyes forward, only listening to the others breathing as a sign that they weren't alone.

As they reached the open field, Harper quickly hit the button on his remote and the Maru appeared. Everyone piled in quickly. Harper sighed as he hit the button to close the hatch.

Rhade was gripped by unease in his chest. He quickly took in the room.

"Where's Beka?"


End file.
